The Kansas City region can be proud of the effort it put into its failed bid for the 2016 GOP convention. Political and civic leaders demonstrated an ability to work across the state line and across party lines. Mayor Sly James showed a capacity to boogie. The bid gave Kansas City a chance to celebrate its barbecue, jazz heritage, emerging downtown and other points of pride.

So this is how it ends — with a crisp statement thanking Kansas City for its hard word but rendering us out of contention for the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Dallas and Cleveland remain the only cities in the running. Denver was also eliminated.

The Kansas City region can be proud of the effort it put into its bid. Political and civic leaders demonstrated an ability to work across the state line and across party lines. Mayor Sly James showed a capacity to boogie. The bid gave Kansas City a chance to celebrate its barbecue, jazz heritage, emerging downtown and other points of pride.

A weak inventory of hotel space and lack of public transit apparently proved insurmountable hurdles, along with last-minute concerns that the Sprint Center might not be large enough.

Those concerns should prompt Kansas City to continue moving forward with mass transit and a renewed assessment as to whether the chance to compete for major events justifies the public subsidies that would be sought to expand hotel capacity.

With that, we are throwing our support to Cleveland. Like KC, it’s an underrated place that could use an ego boost.

Dallas, like the entire state of Texas, is too full of itself. We have not yet forgiven Texas Gov. Rick Perry for his job-poaching foray into Missouri last summer. Also, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback cites Texas as the inspiration for his outlandish income tax cuts. Thanks for nothing, Texas.

Go Cleveland. As for Kansas City, we still have our barbecue. GOP delegates will never know what they’re missing.

Maybe Kansas City needed an elephant. It worked for Dallas, which remains in the running for the 2016 GOP convention.
LM OteroThe Associated Press